Family trouble

In common with fellow Law Society family law panel members, I have received a letter from the Law Society President inviting me to give my view as to whether I would apply for membership of the second tier of the panel.

This is as a consequence of the Lord Chancellor's failure to give enhanced legal aid rates to family lawyers who are members of the panel as distinct from the minimum guaranteed enhancement for those members of the Solicitors Family Law Association's family law panel and the Law Society's children panel.

Does this mean that the quality standard I have gained by obtaining membership of the panel is now regarded by not only the Lord Chancellor but also the Law Society as being second rate? If I am now to apply for a so-called second tier, what is the value of having the original membership? Indeed, would it not make more sense to apply to join the SFLA panel?I am equally concerned as to the precise nature of the consultation taking place between the Law Society's working group and the Legal Services Commission.

The Lord Chancellor has already made the decision on rates of pay and who should receive them.

The Legal Services Commission has already made it clear that it is happy that the existing family law panel standard is acceptable, so precisely why is it being involved at this stage? It does not take a great deal of imagination to foresee that a year or so down the line the Legal Services Commission will state that to continue to qualify as a supervisor in family law work one must have second tier family law panel membership.What will then happen to those members who will not be able to qualify for the new standards proposed?Jeremy Woodford, Bailey & Cogger, Tonbridge, Kent